


“How to Date!” (for dummies)

by purpleturtleneck



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Online Dating, Dating, F/F, Female Friendship, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Happy Ending, Implied Relationships, Online Dating, Platonic Relationships, Some Humor, Two Shot, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27779458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purpleturtleneck/pseuds/purpleturtleneck
Summary: Handong tries online dating to find a lover but ends up with six friends instead.
Relationships: Han Dong | Handong/Kim Bora | SuA, Han Dong | Handong/Kim Minji | JiU, Han Dong | Handong/Kim Yoohyeon, Han Dong | Handong/Lee Gahyeon, Han Dong | Handong/Lee Siyeon, Han Dong | Handong/Lee Yubin | Dami, Kim Yoohyeon/Lee Yubin | Dami
Comments: 7
Kudos: 66





	1. PART ONE

“So this is my dating profile. You’ve already seen it but… have you noticed how everything is detailed but simple and to the point? Yours still needs a bit of work. Add some more personality to it! Don’t be afraid to express yourself! …But don’t go over the top with it either. We don’t want to look _too_ desperate…”

Handong nodded emphatically for the hundredth time today. She silently looked at the woman across from her. The woman who was supposed to be her date.

“…Like I said though, simplicity is key! And be honest about what you want out of your date. And hey, you’re so pretty and nice, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise or treat you badly during a date, ok?!”

Handong first saw Jiu on this new popular dating app she had decided to try. And the woman looked like everything she could ever ask for in a person but…

“Ehm… Jiu, I—”

“…and, OH MY, don’t you ever let anyone make you do something you don’t want to! Even if they’re being pushy and you feel bad… No means no, they should respect that…”

At the beginning of their date, when they had first sat at the café they’re currently in, Handong had immediately told Jiu that this was her first online dating experience. She also told her that it was her first time trying to date a woman. She had considered it in the past but she made it very clear to Jiu that she wasn’t sure if this could work for her. She still felt very confused about everything.

That’s when Jiu started spouting out this grand spiel about love and self-discovery, acceptance and online dating, everything from how to find a good match up to how to avoid possibly getting murdered by a middle-aged catfish.

But Handong didn’t find her annoying. On the contrary, she thought she exuded a certain warmth and kindness. She definitely had a mom vibe.

But that’s the problem. Handong wanted a date, not a second mom.

So the date failed but ended amicably, and Jiu even asked to exchange phone numbers with her. She said she wanted to be friends and Handong decided she was glad for this new friend and all her pep talks and dating tips.

When she got back home, she ended up looking at Jiu’s dating profile again. All her advice was still running through her head.

The first photo on her profile was Jiu holding a very small dog with adoration. It looked obviously distressed as the owner smooshed her face on its fluffy head. The next photo was Jiu smiling like the personification of sunshine. This was the picture that had actually won Handong over. Jiu was crouching cutely next to a flower patch and she just radiated wholesomeness. There weren’t any other photos but her profile’s description was written very thoughtfully with lots of emojis and long sentences.

Handong ended up scrolling down the endless list of dating profiles for quite a while (something that had become a bad habit over time). She told herself “just one more” and scrolled to the next profile.

Its first picture was just a normal selfie. Pretty attractive too, if you asked Handong. Then there was a photo of the woman trying to sexily cut a carrot in her kitchen while wearing full makeup and a tight dress. In the next photo, she had clearly given up and had picked up a bottle from the liquor cabinet. In the next one, she was drinking from that bottle. In the next one, she had dropped it accidentally and it lay smashed to pieces on the floor. She looked horrified at the red stain on her carpet.

Her description tried to be funny about it though: “Who needs cooking skills when I’m the main course?”

Handong rolled her eyes. This was horrible… And maybe that was exactly what she needed if she wanted to avoid dating another “mom” type.

She was shocked by how fast Sua messaged her back. And she was even more shocked by how politely she wrote. She had read in her profile that Handong liked cats, she said, and then she asked her on a date at a cat café. Handong had to double-check to see if this was the same person whose profile she had looked at just a few hours ago.

But going to the cat café with her proved to be the worst decision ever, Handong decided. For Sua there was no better time or place for pussy jokes. And she didn’t even like cats.

“To be honest, I just wanted to impress you.” she said. “You’re really pretty. Sorry if I’m not what you were looking for.”

“It’s okay. You seem to be suffering right now more than I am.”

Sua was sitting very stiffly while a particularly grumpy-looking cat was trying to climb on her lap. Handong beckoned it to her and gave it a treat. Then she said “You know, I wouldn’t mind going to a club with you. You said you’re a dancer, right?”

Sua’s face lit up. “Really?! You mean—”

“No, I don’t mean it as a date. We’re clearly not compatible… but thank you for coming to the cat café with me. I really wanted to go but I don’t have any friends to bring along. I just moved here a few weeks ago.”

They talked a lot more comfortably after that, and Handong tried to keep all the cats away from Sua as best as she could. She even ended up showing her Jiu’s dating profile and after scrolling through it, she said “See? Doesn’t she have mom vibes?”

“…You mean _mommy_ vibes? ‘Cause she’s hot.” said Sua and Handong choked on her coffee.

*******

Her next date was surprisingly chill. Nothing like the intensity that Jiu and Sua had brought with them. Dami took Handong to a small bar. The atmosphere was cozy and they sat there comfortably, just drinking and chatting. Both Handong and her date were quiet people by nature but that didn’t make things awkward. On the contrary, the gaps of silence felt pleasant and when Handong spoke, Dami never interrupted her. The latter said she was an underground rapper, who also sometimes made soundtracks for small indie games in her free time. That’s how she had met her best friend Yoohyeon. She was a videogame programmer and occasional Twitch streamer.

Dami mostly talked about her music and her best friend. She said these were the two things that made her happy. Handong found it kind of sweet.

At some point, Dami asked her if she wanted to come to her apartment to see her recording studio. Handong said yes because she knew Dami meant just that, and she wouldn’t try something. And she was right.

They spent the next few hours listening to music and talking about everything and nothing. Dami’s recording room was a bit too small for two people but the funky neon lights and panda-themed computer setup made up for it. Handong spun around carelessly in Dami’s gaming chair and marveled at the fluorescent star stickers on the ceiling. They shone brightly in the dark.

“Hey, it’s getting kind of late. I think you should go.”

“Eh?”

“I can call a taxi for you if you want.”

Handong knew that Dami had just invited her to hang out, and nothing more. But she was still surprised when her date escorted her to the door without even a kiss.

“Did you not like our date?” she decided to ask. “I’m sorry if I was boring.”

“No, I really enjoyed it… I’m just not sure if I’m ready to seriously date anyone right now. This was actually my first date in a long time.” said Dami.

“…Oh. That’s okay.” Handong was disappointed but she wasn’t going to be mean to Dami because of it. She probably had her reasons for not dating.

Handong was about to leave when…

“Hey…you said you’re trying to date women, right?” said Dami. “Do you want to go on a date with my friend Yoohyeon?”

“I don’t know.” said Handong hesitantly. She didn’t expect that question.

“I’ll send you her dating profile. Please consider it! She made a bet with a colleague so she has to find a date by the end of the week… And, let’s just say, it’s not going well for her.”

“Oh.”

Handong didn’t know what to make of this. She returned home, confused, from possibly the best date she had had so far. But why did Dami agree to go out with her in the first place if she wasn’t interested in dating her? …Was it just for this friend? Is that why she sent Handong her friend’s dating profile?

She decided to look at it. Yoohyeon was tall and, despite her obvious clumsiness, very beautiful too. One of her photos was a classic full-body mirror selfie. The others were photos of her with her dog and her gaming setup. And, of course, there was also a photo of her and Dami. They seemed to have tried to skateboard down a flight of stairs. Yoohyeon had fallen face-first on the concrete and Dami was laughing. They looked happy.

Handong decided to give it a shot. At least for Dami’s sake since she seemed to really want to help her friend with that bet. So Handong messaged Yoohyeon and they agreed to meet at a PC bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot but ended up being slightly too long for that. Now it’s a two-shot.  
> Oops.


	2. PART TWO

Handong thought this was a very strange location for a first date but she decided to go with it nonetheless. She was slightly nervous because she wasn’t a gamer and she’d never been to a PC bang before. She didn’t even know what to wear for this date, or what to expect.

Yoohyeon was wearing a hoodie and baggy shorts. They played some mediocre first-person shooter game without talking much. Yoohyeon would occasionally look at Handong’s computer screen over the partition and throw out some random tips. They didn’t help. Handong died first in every game.

 _This is ridiculous_ , she thought. Yoohyeon hadn’t looked at her all night.

She was about to get up and walk away from this “date” when said person came back from the vending machine with two energy drinks.

“Oh, thanks.” said Handong and reached for one of them.

“They’re both for me.” said Yoohyeon and Handong retracted her hand awkwardly.

_That was it._

“…Yoohyeon, why did you invite me here?”

“How do you know Dami?” asked Yoohyeon, ignoring her.

“Eh? Didn’t she tell you? …We met on the dating app you use too. And we went on a date.”

“What?!”

Yoohyeon sprung from her chair looking very angry. Handong thought she had said something wrong for a moment.

“She never told me that! I thought she just knew you from… _somewhere!_ …Oh, man _._ This is fucked up…” Yoohyeon ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “I- I need some fresh air.” she said, and run out of the PC bang.

*******

“Here you go.”

Handong gave a beer to Yoohyeon as they sat outside a 24/7 convenience store. She had chased her down and somehow managed to calm her enough to talk.

“So, she didn’t tell you.”

“No.”

“She’s an idiot then.”

“ _I’m_ an idiot!” yelled Yoohyeon. She looked quite drunk. Handong looked at the pile of empty beer cans next to her and could almost feel her wallet crying. She looked down at her bare legs too. She had decided to dress casually but had still worn a cute skirt to impress her date. Now her legs were freezing.

“Haha, if Dami was here, she would have definitely given me her jacket.” she joked. Or at least tried to. But Yoohyeon gave her a murderous look at the mention of Dami’s name, so Handong decided to shut up.

She ended up showing Dami’s dating profile to Yoohyeon since the latter still seemed a bit skeptical about all this. Dami’s profile looked like it was made fairly recently. It had no description, just a few emojis: a panda, a microphone and some music notes. There was only one picture and it was a photo of Dami winking at the camera while sitting in her gaming chair. She was wearing a beanie and her glasses. The bright neon lights behind her made her look somewhat cool.

“…She’s _really_ cool.” said Yoohyeon.

“You’re both idiots.” said Handong, finally. "You should call her and sort this out.”

“OK!” Yoohyeon whipped out her phone from her pocket.

“I didn’t mean _right now_! You’re drunk—”

“Hey Yoohyeon. What’s up.”

Too late. Dami had already picked up and Yoohyeon had put the call on speaker so everyone could hear.

“SO you go out with a girl, and then pass her on to me?! Are you insane?!!”

A few passersby turned their heads. Handong hid her face in her hands, in embarrassment.

“You must think I’m such a loser!!!” yelled Yoohyeon.

“No, I—”

“You know, if you wanted to help me win that bet, you could’ve just gone out with me instead!!”

“Yoohyeon, I—”

“WHAT, am I that ugly that you can’t even pretend to like me back, for _one_ damn date?!!”

Yoohyeon stopped to catch her breath and there was silence too from the other end.

Dami finally spoke.

“Yoohyeon. You’re clearly drunk. We’ll talk tomorrow.” she said and hung up the phone.

“Shit. She’s mad at me.”

“…Are you sure?” asked Handong through her fingers, still hiding her face in her hands, still in shock.

“I- Well- It’s just… you know. Her voice. I can tell. I’ve known her long enough to be able to tell.”

“Uh-huh. …Okay, let’s go eat some food now. I’ll pay.”

“Why are you still being nice to me at this point?”

“Listen. You’ve drunk so much on an empty stomach. Let’s go fill it up. You’ll feel better, I promise.” said Handong, and she pulled Yoohyeon up so they could stagger to the nearest open restaurant.

*******

“So she got really drunk?”

“Yes.”

“…And she yelled at both you and her friend?”

“Yeah…”

“But you paid for everything?!”

“Uhm… yeah…”

“AHAHAha. Ha… Wow.”

Her new date laughed at her loudly and looked very amused. “So there is no way this date can go wrong then? …Going on this normal date for once must feel like the best date ever…”

Handong didn’t reply but deep down she knew she agreed. All her dates so far have been really weird, so when Siyeon asked her on a boring movie date, it felt like a relief.

Siyeon’s dating profile had looked very promising. All her photos were the right amount of attractive but unique and interesting. And Handong _might_ have swooned a little over the photos of her rock band. Siyeon was sitting at the front, wearing a T-shirt with a wolf on it, just like the rest of her band members. She was wearing heavy makeup, her nails were painted black and she held a microphone in her hands. In her description, she wrote that she was a huge Avengers fan. So when Handong told her she’d never particularly liked any superhero movies, Siyeon was determined to change her mind.

So here they were, on a Thursday afternoon, in a small movie theater that occasionally replayed popular movies on some weekdays. Handong wasn’t really following the plot but she had put her head on Siyeon’s shoulder and was dozing off contently. Siyeon wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, and this date almost felt nice for a moment. Very romantic.

Until one of the superheroes on screen was blasted to smithereens by a villain.

“ _NOOo_!!! How could this happen?!! …It’s not fair…” yelled Siyeon in agony.

“…But you’ve watched this before.”

“ _Shh_. I need to feel in the moment. What a terrible fate for this hero. Terrible…”

From then on, every week, Siyeon would beg Handong to come and watch more superhero movies with her. The Endgame memes she constantly sent did not convince her though.

Handong decided it wasn’t going to work between them.

“At least I have a new movie buddy though.” said Siyeon.

“I’d rather watch Twilight until my eyes melt out of their sockets… But yeah, we’re friends.”

“That’s harsh.”

These days Handong was honestly feeling fed up with online dating. She wasn’t even sure if she was really into dating women. She tried. But all her dates ended up blossoming into weird friendships. Not that she was complaining. She actually felt grateful that these women had come into her life. They were helping her grow as a person, and she even introduced some of her new friends to each other. She thought about these past few months while scrolling absentmindedly through the now-familiar dating app. And then she stopped.

She saw the profile of a cute, young-looking woman with a big smile and bright innocent eyes. Not really her type, but she did have her own unique charm. She went through the rest of her photos and was shocked to see her posing in darker makeup and a more mature look in some of them. Her duality intrigued Handong. So did her profile’s description. It seemed that this woman had also just started dating other women. Handong was interested to know more about her and maybe discuss with her the confusion she was currently feeling.

“How do you know?” she had asked.

“That you like girls? …I think you just know…” replied Gahyeon. “I’m still questioning things all the time though. Sometimes I feel too old for that.”

“No, you shouldn’t. I’m older than you and still confused, haha.”

“That’s fine. You don’t need an answer.”

They ended up having a very genuine, heartfelt conversation. While messaging each other, Handong found out that Gahyeon had liked sincerely only one person so far. No other woman, or man, or anyone for that matter. Just her ex-boyfriend. So when she found out that Gahyeon had been dumped by this ex very recently, Handong took her to a noraebang and they both screamed their lungs out.

It was the start of a very epic friendship.

*******

Handong’s dating profile had gone through so much change since her first date. Back then she would often post a new selfie when she felt pretty, then tell herself it was boring and took it down. Now she only had to remind herself of her friends’ profiles and, in the end, settle with putting up the pictures that felt most authentic to her. A few good selfies, a photo of her with her cat and a photo of her with… her new friends, of course.

Handong took a few steps to the left trying to find the perfect camera angle. She wanted to take a picture of all seven of them but was struggling to fit her six friends and herself all in one frame.

It was a beautiful sunny day and they’d decided to have a picnic at the park. Yoohyeon and Dami were sitting on one corner of the picnic blanket, holding hands. Sua sat next to them to make fun of them. Siyeon sat right in-between to stop Sua but ended up laughing with her instead. Jiu was lying down across from them peacefully, with her head on Gahyeon’s lap. The maknae took one look at Sua and Siyeon’s antics and shook her head disapprovingly.

“3… 2… 1…”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and posed for the camera.

The photo turned out a bit chaotic but Handong wouldn’t have it any other way.

It was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OT7 forever <3
> 
> (This story was inspired by my friends’ recent obsession with dating apps lol)


End file.
